Denver, Day 1

MLB Trip 2009 - Destination: Denver, Colorado.

Not only is Denver home of the nation's largest international airport, it's also home to the Doctors Hou and their amazingly chill (and adorable!) baby, Madeleine. Joel found a good online rate at the Hotel Monaco in downtown, and apparently, they provide you with a pet goldfish if you ask. I named ours, "Mitch".

Beatrice & Woodsley
Saturday was a jam packed day, which started off with brunch at Beatrice & Woodsley, which on one side has a chic industrial look, but on the other side appears to be a modern lounge for wood elves. It may sound funny, but with the tinted yellow windows filtering the high noon sun and the sheer curtains surrounding the booths, it was all very relaxing and somewhat whimsical (as Joel likes to call it). To start, we got an order of monkeybrains, which were donut holes filled with bananas foster, I think. I don't actually remember much about them, so probably not a good sign. They weren't bad, just not as memorable as they looked. For my main dish, I ordered the buttery grits with spicy pulled pork, and if I remember correctly, most in our group ordered the same. The buttery grits, at the bottom of the dish, balanced out the salt and spice of the pulled pork. I personally, however, enjoyed using the runny yolk from the egg over easy to balance out the pulled pork, but then again, I like eggs on almost anything.

Coors Brewery
After brunch, we went back to Andrew and Amy's, before heading off for some brewery tours. The original plan was to go to Fort Collins for the New Belgium Brewery tour (Fat Tire), but since the schedule didn't work out, we ended up going to the Coors Brewery instead. Included in the free tour, you get free samples and two free beers. Most of us stopped listening to the audio guide almost immediately, mainly because it was cheesy, but let's face it - talk about beer just makes you want more beer. The coolest thing about the tour was actually seeing the factory floor, watching the cans traveling across the belts to be packaged into the various boxes. The line for free beer at the end of the tour was both long and unorganized, and given our tight schedule, we ended up only getting one beer each.

Casa Bonita
For those of you who have seen the South Park episode (just the clip here), Casa Bonita is an actual establishment in Denver. Ever since we've talked about going to Denver, there's been talks of going, so we attempted a quick visit in between Coors and the ball game. The plan, get in, look around, and haul ass to the baseball game. Casa Bonita, however, had other plans.

For starters, there's really no way to properly describe this place. Ken probably sums it up best when he says "it's a Mexican Disneyland in a strip mall, but 10 times worse". The first thing you notice when you step inside is the smell of chlorinated water and the faint sounds of children's laughter. The reception area is reminiscent of 1980s Circus Circus, Las Vegas, and the only thing to greet you is the amateur video looping on the wall mounted tube TVs, starring the various entertainment personalities. The price of admission is a full meal, the cheapest costing $12. Since there's no way to sneak a peek of the actual restaurant from the reception area, our plan was either buy $12 worth of drinks or just hand over the money. Despite our best negotiating efforts, the cashiers wouldn't budge, so we each had to order entrees. Much like the typical cafeteria, the food line starts with wet plastic trays, but soon after, you're greeted by a pair of faceless hands, pushing out food from a hole in the wall. A woman in a hair net and latex gloves confirms your order before handing you the plate, all the while basking under the red glow of heat lamps. The majority of us ordered the taco salad or the nachos, which aren't much to write about.

Once inside, we were seated at a table next to the waterfall, giving us front row seats to the various incarnations of the Casa Bonita cliff diving show, which basically featured a cast of high school students and a man dressed in a gorilla suit. Besides the cliff divers, there's also Black Bart's cave, arcades, and the random person selling plastic light sabers. While I don't think I'd necessarily make a return visit, I'd recommend anyone in the area to make the trip, as it's really something to experience. Once you do, you'll understand just how difficult it is to accurately describe the place.

Coors Field - Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants
Since most of us were full from Casa Bonita, we mostly just snacked at Coors Field during the game. While Dodger Stadium has Dodger Dogs and AT&T Park has Gilroy garlic fries, Coors Field has Rocky Mountain Oysters, though I'm not sure people actually go to the park for them. Andrew actually got an order, and we all took a slice, despite knowing what it was. Thankfully, they were very thinly sliced and heavily breaded, so you really couldn't tell or taste anything except breading. Andrew, however, had to finish it all. Balls, balls, balls.